


43 "I picked these for you"

by allousive



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [18]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Short & Sweet, they're literally kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23687173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allousive/pseuds/allousive
Summary: Teddy is nervous about starting Hogwarts.
Relationships: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1406428
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	43 "I picked these for you"

**Author's Note:**

> hiya! hope everyone is holding up okay and staying safe, enjoy :)

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**43 "I picked these for you"**

James Sirius Potter was not the sort of kid you’d describe as calm and quiet. He was running before he could even form proper sentences and by age 3 he’d been nicknamed the hurricane by his overly-large family. He was the sort of kid that when his parents introduced him to people, they started off by saying “Sorry.” That didn’t make him any less loveable though, because although he was boisterous, bold and loud, he was also charming, kind and the right type of cheeky that made adults love him. 

At age 5, although he loved his family, he didn’t fully understand the concept of love and what his parents truly meant to him. Age 5, the only person James truly adored was Teddy. His cool, older god-brother, aged 11, and the best person James had ever met. Despite Teddy not being a blood relative of the Potter’s or Weasley’s, he was practically Harry’s first son and so there wasn’t a week that went by where Teddy wasn’t round their house at least twice.

Age 11, Teddy was feeling a lot of confliction. He was starting Hogwarts in September, he’d gotten his letter on the morning of his birthday, and soon he’d be living away from his Gran and the Potter’s for 9 months of the year which meant he was old enough now to be more independent. But as much as he would try and deny it, he knew he was going to miss them more than anything. Teddy had accepted he didn’t have parents, although it made him sad to think about sometimes, he hadn’t known anything different and so living without his mum and dad wasn’t a hardship for him.

Living without Harry and his family though was something Teddy was terrified of. He was excited to go and be able to use magic, to meet new people and actually be friends with kids his own age. But he was also sad that he was going to miss out on months of being with baby Lily, sad that he wasn’t going to be there when Al first learnt to ride his broom and even sadder at the fact that Sunday dinner would continue without him.

Not to mention that it would be the first time in 5 years that he wasn’t going to be followed by his shadow in the shape of James. Even though Teddy had spent six delightful years alone and with the undivided attention of Harry, he no longer remembered what it was like to not have James around. He was scared that James would forget about him.

So even though everyone was inside chatting away after just having finished dinner, Teddy found himself out in the garden of Harry’s house, sat in the shade of the oak tree that Harry had built a treehouse in when Teddy was 3. He could see through the window into the kitchen that Harry, with Lily sleeping soundly on his chest, and Hermione were looking out into the garden at him, talking between them and saying things Teddy couldn’t hear. He tried to smile and let them know he was okay, but it was hard to do when all he could think of was everything he was going to miss.

Ron was across the other side of the garden, sat in the sand pit with Albus, Rose and Hugo, who was trying his best to shove sand in his mouth, much to his father’s amusement. James was nowhere to be seen, probably off inside somewhere causing trouble while no one was watching him. The thought made him smile, even if his Gran always told him not to encourage James’ misbehaviour.

Teddy sighed and scrunched his knees up towards his chest, wrapping one arm around them, the other resting next to him, hand picking absentmindedly at the grass. When he tilted his head back and looked at the leaves above him, they went slightly blurry, tears beginning to well and obscure his view. He scrubbed at them harshly, angry at himself for beginning to cry, 11-year olds didn’t cry. Stopping the tears didn’t stop him feeling sad though, so he closed his eyes and tried to picture something happy, like Harry told him to whenever he had a nightmare.

When a shadow fell over him, Teddy opened his eyes again and looked to see James standing in front of him, hands clasped behind his back, a sweet smile on his face. He looked calm, and it was unusual for Teddy to see him like that.

“Hey Jamie.” Teddy said, smiling at the kid in front of him.

“Your hair isn’t blue. What’s wrong?” James asked straight away, kids had no tact when it came to asking questions they wanted answered.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Teddy told him, self-consciously reaching up to touch his hair, as though he’d be able to feel what colour it was. Sometimes he really hated that the colour of it changed depending on his mood. 

“Well you look sad,” James said matter-of-factly, “and I heard mumma tell daddy to go and check on you. But daddy is talking to auntie ‘mione, so I came instead.”

Teddy laughed softly, becoming increasingly curious to what James was holding behind his back, watching the way the boy began to fidget.

“I’m okay Jamie,” Teddy told him, before asking, “what have you got?”

James smiled mischievously and Teddy smiled back, the cheeky look on James’ face was something he was much more familiar with.

Pulling his arms out in front of him, James thrust a bunch of haphazardly picked flowers in Teddy’s direction, “ _I picked these for you_.”

Teddy noticed that the flowers James was holding were ones he must’ve found dotted around the garden, a combination of daisies, dandelions, random wildflowers and the pink roses Harry had planted the year before, the ones James knew not to pick.

He smiled and took the flowers graciously, then asked, “Why?”

“Well,” James started, sounding so much older than he was as he flopped down onto the grass next to Teddy, short legs stopping at Teddy’s knee caps, “whenever mumma is sad, daddy gets her flowers, so ‘cause you’re sad, I thought I’d give you flowers.”

“Thanks Jamie, I love them.” Teddy said, he took one of the roses in his hand and broke the stalk in half, Harry couldn’t be mad at him, the flower had already been picked, then he turned to James and tucked the flower behind the boy’s ear.

James scrunched up his face, not pleased with what Teddy had done, removing the flower from his ear and looking at it, twisting it in his fingers before looking up at Teddy, “Make your hair this colour.”

Teddy huffed out a little laugh, before concentrating on the colour of the rose, a pale pink. He knew it had succeeded when James began laughing joyously, dropping the rose when he began to clap.

“Will you miss me when I go to Hogwarts?” Teddy asked the boy, who was picking pieces of the grass.

James looked up at Teddy as if he’d asked the most stupid question and said, “Yeah, you’re my best friend. But you will come home and one day I’ll go with you, so I can’t be sad, that’s what daddy says.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Teddy said, although James wasn’t really listening, his attention span way too short.

As James got up and made his way toward the tree to start climbing it, Teddy thought about what the boy had said and smiled, James was right, Teddy would always come home. If a 5 year old could be so accepting of it, so could he, Teddy thought. He smiled and looked up again toward the kitchen, meeting the eyes of his godfather who was watching on with a smile.

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End file.
